Braxton Johns has been active in sports at Wahkiakum High School, playing football, taking on track and golf, but his favorite activity is easily wrestling.

"It's taught me a lot," Braxton said. "It taught me how to be humble, how to lose, and how to win. It's taught me how to focus, work hard, and not blame others for mistakes."

The wrestling team works so hard, Braxton explained, that there are times when people want to quit, but teammates build each other up, and encourage each other to continue.

As an eighth grader wrestling for the high school team, he realized something that will stay with him forever. They were family.

"I rolled my ankle towards the end of practice and I was sitting in a chair icing it," Braxton said. "When we got done, they didn't break out in the center, they came over to me, because I couldn't get up. It broke me as an eighth grader. This was an actual family that will always be there for me."

Marc Niemeyer, who teaches weight lifting, is his favorite teacher.

"I like to work out," Braxton said. "He's really encouraging. He taught me how to lift safely so I don't hurt myself. When I'm out of high school, I can go to a gym with confidence and actually work out."

He's also really enjoyed Jeff Rooklidge's classes over the years, especially Environmental Science.

"That was one of the most fun classes that I've had," Braxton said. "You can tell he really cares about students, because he likes to take us outside to do stuff. He's really good at breaking things down so high schoolers can understand it."

Braxton enjoys history too, but mostly he likes collecting the stories and information to impress his friends.

"You get to use them with your friends and feel really smart at the same time," Braxton laughed. "I'll pull history facts out and feel smart for five minutes."

After graduation, Braxton will head to Alaska for a little over a month to fish. Then he will return home to look for an apprenticeship program. He wants to be a plumber.

"Plumbing would be kind of fun," he said. "I wanted to go into a trade. We did a job shadow at school and I talked to two plumbers on Zoom. You've got to be able to talk to people and have a creative imagination. I realized through weight training that I needed to do something labor intensive. I can't be sitting behind a desk."

Braxton is the son of Julie and Paul Johns.